Faculty Workshop

 

 

Call for Applications – Faculty Workshop on Integrating Sustainability into the Curriculum 

 An invitation to Summer 2024 Workshop: 

“Green Curriculum, Green Campus, Green City” 

We invite you to enhance your teaching and engagement with environmental and interconnected economic and social justice issues by participating in the “Faculty Workshop on Integrating Sustainability into the Curriculum”, May 6-7.  Modeled after the Piedmont Project at Emory University, this workshop has been an intellectually stimulating and collegial experience for faculty across many disciplines. 

Skeptics, environmentalists, and those in between have found their various perspectives welcomed and enriched by the dialogue and the project activities. 

Are you thinking about developing a new course or new modules in an existing course?  See past examples at: https://piedmont.emory.edu/syllabi/index.html  

The workshop will explore how we can meaningfully integrate sustainability—broadly defined—into our classrooms.  Though we start by taking a close look at ECU, Greenville, and the eastern NC region, we invite participants to engage in local/global comparisons.  We will have resource experts giving presentations and facilitating discussion of a green curriculum and its integration and role in the broader community. 

Participants will receive an honorarium of $250 upon completion of a new or revised syllabus, will join in a fieldtrip and discussions that will offer opportunities to extend research and teaching horizons across disciplines and create new networks with fellow colleagues. 

Application: If you are interested, please complete the online application form including a short, one-paragraph description of how you plan to change an old course or develop a new one.  

Deadline:  Friday, February 16, 2024 

 

Sustainability Workshop participants agree to: 

(1) Read some materials prior to the workshop. 

(2) Participate in the two half-day workshops, May 6-7. 

(3) Over the summer, prepare a syllabus for the affected course or courses and submit it by August 1 with an explanatory paragraph, for posting to the ECU Sustainability Program website. 

(4) Report back to the group in an August fieldtrip to Otter Creek Natural Area and a Spring follow-up event. 

  

Workshop Agenda: 

 

Day 1:  8am to 1pm 

8am – 8:30am:  Welcome with Coffee, Tea, Breakfast Items (fruit and pastries – vegan options) 

8:30am – 9:30am:  “What is Sustainability?” by L.J. Palmer-Moloney, Geography 

9:30am – 9:45am:  Break 

9:45am – 10:45am:  Group Discussion on Pre-assigned Readings 

10:45am – 11am:  Break 

11am – 12pm:  “Making Environmental Change Happen” by Chad Carwein, ECU Sustainability Manager 

12pm – 1pm:  Campus Tree Trail Guided Walk (John Gill, Campus Landscape Architect) 

Day 1 Homework:  Read case studies on examples for different academic disciplines to integrate sustainability into the curriculum and start to outline a couple of ideas for your class next semester. (Sustainability in the Curriculum Project by Macquarie University) 

 

Day 2:  12pm to 5pm 

12pm – 1pm:  Walk to Town Creek Culvert for a Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Talk  

1pm – 1:40pm:  Welcome Back and Group Discussion on Day 1 Homework Assignment 

1:40pm – 2:40pm:  “Sustainability at ECU” by Kim Fox, ECU Sustainability Outreach Specialist 

2:40pm – 2:55pm:  Break 

2:55pm – 3:55pm:  “Integrating Sustainability into the Curriculum” by James Loudon, Anthropology 

3:55pm – 4:15pm:  Quiet Personal Reflection Exercise 

4:15pm – 5pm:  Social Hour with Wine, Beer, and Appetizers so Participants can chat about their ideas 

 

Pre-Workshop Assigned Readings:
  1. Creighton – Introduction from “Greening the Ivory Tower” (1998)
  2. Creighton – Making Environmental Change Happen (1998)
  3. Barlett – Reconnecting with Place (2005)
  4. Agyeman – Toward a Just Sustainability (2008)
  5. Cotton-Winter – Sustainability Pedagogies (2010)
  6. Ben-Eli – Sustainability Definition and Five Core Principles (2015)
  7. Orr – Selected Essays from “Hope is an Imperative” (1988-2011)

 

Other Resources: